Winter is Ending
by Singer of Water
Summary: Tracey Madison has just been evicted from her apartment and then hired by Tony Stark to retrieve files that have been released onto the internet. Her life has gotten hectic and adding helping her friend Steve help the Winter Soldier regain his lost memories just made things a bit more complicated. Bucky/OC
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One

"Please! Just give me a few more days, I can pay the rent then!" Tracey begged.

She looked at her landlord, her eyes pleading for her to stay in her apartment. It had already been a long day and she just wanted to sleep. But fat luck that was. The moment she unlocked the door she is stopped by Mr. Davidson with the news that he wants the rent. Early to be exact. She wasn't supposed to pay until next Friday, but of course here he was with a glint of amusement in his eyes. Tracey knew the fifty something year old man probably got a kick out of evicting people, however, he preferred to get money over that any day. His greed was something that didn't shock her after two months of living in the apartment complex. It's not like he cared anyways. He had his own place to live so why should worrying about others well-being matter to him.

"Sorry no can do. If you don't have the money you don't have an apartment," he said with a shrug.

"I have the money just give me a few more days!" she pleaded.

"Rent was due today. Be sure to have your things out by tonight," he said taking his leave.

"Asshole," Tracey muttered once the man was out of earshot.

She turned around to her door and stared up at the yellow eviction notice taped to it. Closing her eyes and taking a deep breath to prevent her from tearing the paper down she unlocked her door. Once inside she was met with the sound of nails scraping the wooden floor. Coming to a skidding stop was a golden retriever pup, whose tail was wagging madly as it stared up at her, its tongue lolling out of its mouth.

"Hey, Dexter," she cooed, kneeling down to pet the puppy's head. "Are you hungry?" she asked. The puppy started spinning around and jumping up at her legs. She laughed as she walked into the kitchen and gathered up the dog food and food bowl. Dexter barked happily at her as he heard the food being poured into the metal bowl. Tracey laughed as she placed the bowl down and the golden retriever nearly knocked it over as he basically nose-dived into the food. She sighed. "I don't know what we're going to do buddy."

She looked around at her apartment. All the furniture, knick knacks, and other bits and pieces around each room were needed to be boxed up and moved to a storage unit by tonight. How that was going to be managed in such short time was beyond her. She didn't even have the money to rent out a storage unit _and _a moving truck. She didn't even have boxes to pack everything in anymore. Her twin brother had borrowed them three months ago when he moved to DC. She groaned as she ran her hands through her hair. She slumped down in her arm chair and rested her head on the back.

Her thoughts were interrupted by her phone as the ringing echoed through the living room. Pulling it out she saw a picture of a red haired woman and a dark haired man, who was wearing sunglasses and flashing a peace sign with a cocky grin while a laugh was gracing her face.

"Hey, Pepper," Tracey greeted, putting the phone to her ear. "How are you?"

"Hi, Tracey, I'm doing well," came the reply from the other end.

"Is Tony behaving?" Tracey asked with a laugh.

"As much as he usually does," Pepper said, laughing along. "I was wondering if you wanted to grab lunch with me. We haven't talked in a while and I wanted to see how things are going with you."

Tracey smiled, trying to hold back a sigh thinking about her current predicament. "Lunch sounds really good right now. I need a breather."

"Great! How does Shwarma sound?"

"Isn't that the place Tony keeps on recommending to me?" Tracey questioned.

"The very one," Pepper laughed. "Apparently it's really good."

"Alright, I'll see you in about ten minutes or so."

"Sounds good. See you there."

Tracey ended the call and ran a hand down her face. Lunch sounded good right now, especially getting a chance to talk to Pepper. The ginger woman always had great advice and was someone Tracey found to help ease stress whenever life got too hectic for her. Getting up and grabbing her purse off the kitchen counter, she made her way out the door.

ooOOoo

"And he just kicked you out of your apartment?" Pepper asked. The two were currently waiting inside of Shwarma waiting on their meals. Tracey had just finished telling the older woman about her situation that happened before she arrived. "Where are you going to stay now?"

Tracey sighed and leaned her cheek against her hand. "That's the next thing I have to worry about. Right now I have to figure out how to get all of my stuff out by tonight. He didn't even give me a set time just said to have them out by tonight."

Pepper chewed on the inside of her cheek trying to decide what to say next. She looked down at her lap and busied herself with her phone as a text chimed in. Tracey raised an eyebrow at Pepper's antics. Her friend never looked at her phone during lunch dates with her unless it was Tony and it was something important.

Tracey leaned back in her chair, taking a drink from her tea, and chuckled. "What does Tony want? Did he blow up his lab?" She grinned at the red head.

Pepper chuckled. "No, he hasn't done that. Although I'm waiting for it to happen any day now. He actually wanted me to talk to you."

Tracey sat up straighter in her seat. "Me? What does he want me for? I don't think I could be any use to Stark Industries."

"He wants you to retrieve some files. Files from SHIELD," she began.

"Couldn't he do that himself? I've never worked with SHIELD before, he has."

"He wants you to retrieve the files from SHIELD that were released over the internet after what happened in DC. Now that SHIELD is basically non-existent he wants to read up on all of the things they've been hiding."

"Couldn't he have asked me himself?" the blonde questioned.

"He would have, but he is currently reading all of the files now that he can read them without breaking into SHIELD itself," Pepper explained. "And I know you're going to ask 'why does he need me to recover the files if he's already reading them?'. The reason being is that now that the files are out in the open and anyone can read them he doesn't want everyone to panic if something serious is found in the files. He also said he wants to repay Natasha for helping him during the Whiplash and Justin Hammer incidents by retrieving the files that are about her."

"But why me? Couldn't he get someone from SHIELD to retrieve those files themselves? I get that they are no more, but wouldn't it make sense to have someone from SHIELD get back the information that they released?"

"From what he knows of what happened in DC some SHIELD agents were double agents and worked for another organization known as HYDRA. That being said he doesn't want someone who used to work for SHIELD to retrieve the files in case they are someone from HYDRA. He believes that HYDRA is still out there and if they get their hands on information from SHIELD who knows what could happen. That's why he wants you. He trusts you, especially since he knows you're a family friend of mine. He also believes you'd do a better job at retrieving the files than anyone else, considering the fact you were able to hack into his data base the first time you came to visit," Pepper concluded with a smirk.

Tracey laughed at the memory. The first time she had moved to New York Pepper had helped her move in, along with her boss at the time - and now current boyfriend - Tony Stark. She had just graduated college and was visiting the two and had gotten curious as to what Tony was working on and managed to break down his firewall and read his files on his Iron Man suits. It was amusing to see Tony's face shift from stunned to impressed.

"You're the best hacker he knows and he could really use the help, Tracey," Pepper said.

Tracey pursed her lips as she thought the proposal over. She already had a part time job as a waitress at a local café and sold paintings at Central Park on the side. Would she have time to work on retrieving the files from SHIELD as well? Not to mention the fact that she just got evicted from her apartment and needed to move all of her things out of it and then find a new place to live. She furrowed her brows before looking at Pepper.

"I don't know. I already have to move out of my apartment and look for a new one. I also have that waitressing job and I don't know if I have the time to help him. I can't just quit, I need the money," Tracey explained.

Pepper smiled. "Don't worry, he's willing to pay you. We can hire people to move all of your stuff out of your apartment and if Tony has a problem with that then he can come talk to me about it. As for your apartment, what about your boyfriend? Dave?"

Tracey groaned. "I asked him if he wanted to move in together, but he's been dodging the question for a month now. He could at least say no, I'd be cool with that."

"Haven't you two been having problems lately?" Pepper asked, taking a sip of her water.

"Yeah…" Tracey trailed off. "He's complaining that I spend too much time working at the café than I do with him. He knows I need the money. Plus he's been a bit um pushy."

"Oh," Pepper said, her mouth forming an 'o' shape. "Well like I said before when you started dating him, I wasn't so sure about him. He's just so different from someone I thought you'd actually date."

"I know," Tracey sighed. "He was so nice when we first started dating now he's just a bit distant and his temper has caused him to get into fights which annoys me. I don't know. Anyways back to Tony. As I said my life's a bit hectic and I need a place to stay."

'Sweetie, you can stay at the tower until you find a place to stay," she offered, smiling.

Tracey laughed. "Isn't it already a bit full with the others coming and going now and then? Heck doesn't Barry stop by sometimes whenever he has to relay a message to Tony from SHIELD? Well used to."

"Yes which is why you can stay at the tower," Pepper repeated. "Look I know it's a bit chaotic right now, but we are willing to help you out and Tony is offering to pay you, better than what you get at the café. Please? He's been getting no sleep these past few days since the DC incident reading up on those files. I worry about him and with your help I'm sure he can get back to a normal sleeping schedule."

Tracey chuckled. She leaned back in her seat once more, contemplating over the offer. Pepper looked at her expectantly as the blonde thought. Tracey sighed as she smiled up at Pepper.

"Alright, I'll help him out."

"Thank you, Tracey," Pepper smiled.

"No problem, Pepper."

ooOOoo

Tracey looked around the airport trying to see past the sea of bustling heads, who had just come off the plane she had arrived on. She had just taken a plane to DC to meet up with Barry and Steve, after having met up with Tony and discussing a few things about the work she would be doing with him. Tony had asked her to visit her twin and Steve in the hopes of getting any further information on the recent events that occurred at DC. She sighed as she ran a hand through her hair. There was no way she was going to find her brother in this mess. She stood on her toes trying once more to see over the crowd. Her face lit up when she saw a familiar face with blonde hair standing off to the side. Grabbing her bag she pushed her way through the reunited families and friends and made her way over to Steve.

"Thank goodness!" she exclaimed once she reached the super soldier. "I didn't know if I was going to make it through all those people. How are you, Steve? Wait, where is Barry?" she asked, noticing her twin wasn't with him.

Steve smiled. "It's good to see you too, Tracey. It's just me, Barry couldn't make it, said he had some other business to attend to."

Tracey rolled her eyes. "Let me guess, he's cleaning his apartment, isn't he?"

Steve laughed and shook his head. "I tried to cover for him. He should know not to hide things from you."

"Well duh, I've lived with him practically my whole life, I know what he's like," Tracey laughed as she followed Steve out of the airport. "So, are we taking that motorcycle of yours?"

"Nope," Steve answered, stuffing his hands in his hoodie. "I have a friend who offered to drive us."

"Oh really? Who is it?" she asked once they were outside. She shielded her eyes from the glaring sunlight wishing she had brought her sunglasses.

"That's him," he said, pointing to a black Infiniti. "Sam, this is Tracey Madison," Steve said to the dark skinned man in the driver's seat once they reached the car.

"So you're Barry's twin sister? It's nice to meet you, I'm Sam Wilson," Sam said, sticking his hand out the window to Tracey.

Tracey smiled and took his hand. "It's nice to meet you too Sam."

"So where to?" Sam asked, pulling out onto the street.

"Barry's apartment, I need to talk to him about something," she answered just as her phone chimed. Looking down she saw a text from Barry. "Well scratch the part about me talking with him. He just said he had to go do something."

"So that's a no to his apartment?" Sam asked.

"No, I have a spare key. I just need to get something of mine from him really," she said with a shrug.

"Alright then."

ooOOoo

After having gotten her few books and movies from her brother's apartment, Tracey had spent the day roaming around DC enjoying the sites and taking a break at a small restaurant she remembered Barry mentioning to her, saying he'd take her there the next time she visited. As the day went on clouds started to fill the sky, slowly turning into dark gray ones. By the time she was done sightseeing she had called a taxi to take her to the airport so that she could grab a ticket for her flight back home that night. Unfortunately, when the taxi had gotten to her location at the restaurant it had started to down pour which resulted in her having to sit in line to get her ticket for a few hours only to be told that the flight was canceled due to severe weather. And after grabbing another taxi she called Steve asking for a place to stay to wait out the rain for a little bit. Now here she was sitting in the super soldier's apartment and spending a good few hours chatting.

"I can't believe all that happened here," Tracey said incredulously.

She was currently sitting in his living room, grateful that he had insisted that she was welcome to spend the night. Looking out the window she could see the pouring rain through the street lamps and hear the rain tapping loudly against the glass. Steve and her had started talking about what had being going on with their lives since they last saw each other (which was around the time after the Chitari attack in New York). He had just finished telling her about the events that took place in DC. She rubbed her eyes out of exhaustion as Steve walked into the room with two mugs filled with steaming tea in each hand. She thanked him when he handed hers before he took a seat on the couch across from her.

"Well that explains why Barry had called saying he was in the hospital a few weeks ago," she said, recalling her twin brother calling her up the day the incident with HYDRA went down with his usual cheery attitude. She shook her head at the thought of how her twin was a SHIELD agent in the first place. She blew on the tea before taking a sip. "I can't believe that your best friend, Bucky, is actually alive."

"Yeah. I was shocked myself," Steve said, running a hand through his hair as he sighed.

Tracey frowned, her face growing with sympathy as she could see the dark circles under the super soldier's eyes. His hair was disheveled compared to its usual neat style. She stared at him as he stared out the window lost in thought. Following his gaze she, again, watched the rain beat down on the street outside. She looked down at her tea before turning back to him.

"How long have you been searching?"

"Nearly a month now," he sighed. "I've looked around DC in case he, for some reason, stayed here. He's probably in some other state by now."

"Do you have any idea where he might go? I mean it's like you said, he's wandering around with no memory of who he is. Don't you think he's probably trying to find some place that seems familiar to him in some way in hopes of regaining some fragment of a memory or two?"

"Yeah, I've thought of that as well," he said, taking a sip of his tea. "My thoughts are he's probably in New York. Most likely Brooklyn, I hope."

"Right, didn't you two grow up there?" Tracey questioned.

Steve nodded. "That's why I'm planning on going back to New York City with you when-"

He was cut off by loud pounding coming from his front door. The two shared a looked before they turned their heads to the door, sitting in silence, before they heard the pounding start up again. It was midnight, which made them wonder who could possibly be making a visit at this hour. Tracey blinked as she stared at the door that was visibly shaking from the blows to it.

Turning to Steve she asked, "Were you expecting someone?"

"No," he said slowly, placing his mug down as he gradually made his way to the door.

Tracey stood to follow, but was stopped by Steve holding his hand up behind him, not bothering to look back at the blonde female. Taking the hint, Tracey backed up a bit as she watched Steve grab his shield, which was off to the side resting against a wall, and approach the door as the banging continued. Slowly, Steve reached for the door knob and with one quick motion opened the door and held his shield out in front of him ready for any possible attack.

Trying to look around his large build that was taking up the entire door way to see who was there, Tracey saw Steve lower his shield to his side as he stood stock still. Creeping her way over to him, she peeked over his shoulder and gasped at what she saw.

Standing in the hall outside the door, dripping water off his person thanks to the rain, was a man, who looked like he had seen better days. The man was wearing a pair of faded jeans with the ends of the legs frayed, ripped, and covered with mud; his feet were covered in an old pair of sneakers. On his torso he wore a plain black T-shirt with a jacket over it. Covering his dripping hair was a baseball cap. His face was covered in the makings of a scruffy beard; dark circles laid under his eyes that matched Steve's perfectly. The man looked a little gaunt, most likely from lack of sleep and food was Tracey's guess. He was looking down at the ground between him and Steve, but would also look up at the super soldier with sad, nearly vacant eyes as if he was lost.

Tracey didn't even need to ask as to who the man was and hearing Steve finally speak, her assumptions were correct.

"Bucky?"


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter two

"Bucky?"

The man looked up at Steve before looking down again. "I know you…your…your name is Steve…"

Tracey saw Steve's shoulder's slump as he finally relaxed from his tensed position. She watched as Steve pulled his best friend into an embrace while Bucky tensed, not sure what to do. She moved out of the way as Steve lead him to the couch where, like before when he stood outside, stared at the ground.

"Tracey," Steve spoke up catching the blonde's attention. "Can you grab the extra towels and blankets from the hall closet?"

"Yeah," she said as she rushed over to said closet.

She came back with her hands loaded with white blankets and towels and a large comforter that she figured would be helpful. Steve thanked her as he wrapped Bucky up in a large towel and started drying off his hair with another. Tracey stood to the side still holding onto the rest of the towels and blankets, not entirely sure what to do. Her face lit up slightly when an idea came to mind.

"Hey, Steve, I'm going to make some soup for Bucky," she said, making the super soldier to look at her and Bucky to snap his head up when he heard her say his name. She offered him a warm smile. "I'm pretty sure he's starving and it will help him warm up."

Steve nodded and smiled. "Thanks, Tracey."

Tracey smiled and set the bundle in her arms down and went to the kitchen. She busied herself as she searched around the kitchen for a pot and a can of soup. When she finally found them she set to work on heating up the can's contents on the stove all the while Steve sat in the living room with Bucky. It was silent for a long time until she heard Steve speak up.

"How did you find my apartment?" Steve asked.

"I…I remember this place the night you chased me," Bucky replied, looking down at his hands trying to avoid looking at the man next to him.

"Oh right," Steve said, rubbing the back of his neck. "That."

It was silent again. The only sound coming from the patter of rain on the windows and the flames coming from the stove as it heated up the soup. Tracey grabbed a wooden spoon from a drawer and started to stir, trying to not seem like she was eavesdropping. Although it was a bit of a challenge considering that the space between the two rooms was open and didn't have a wall to block out the conversation.

"Bucky, do you remember everything?" Steve questioned. Tracey could hear the hesitation in his voice knowing that he wasn't sure what he wanted the answer to be.

"No…"

Tracey frowned staring down at the soup. She knows Steve was over joyed that Bucky was back, but the fact that his best friend didn't remember everything, all the times they spent together growing up, she could tell it was breaking his heart. She peaked over at the two and saw that Steve's mouth was set in a firm line as he sat next to Bucky. Looking at Bucky she saw that his head was down casted. He was probably still a bit confused and lost, not sure what to do or say now that he's here with Steve.

Once the soup was done, Tracey grabbed a bowl and spoon (after searching for them for a good minute and making a mental note to ask Steve where everything is) and walked over to the two men. Slowly she reached out to Bucky with the bowl. Bucky looked up from behind his bangs at her and she offered him a warm smile as she coaxed the bowl closer to him. Bucky took it without a word and was soon eating the soup ravenously.

Steve watched with sympathy and looked up at Tracey whose eyebrows were arched up in concern. Catching his eye, Tracey smiled at him and took her seat over at the arm chair, taking her tea in hand again and stared out the window.

She didn't know when she had fallen asleep, but the next thing she knew Steve was shaking her awake. She looked past him and saw that Bucky had fallen asleep on the couch. He looked peaceful, Tracey noticed. His brows weren't furrowed in confusion and he didn't have a lost look on his face. He looked younger when he slept.

"Tracey, why don't you take my bed for the night. I'll sleep out here," Steve said, stifling a yawn.

Tracey noted that the dark circles under his eyes had gotten worse and he looked pale. She bit her cheek as she stared up at Steve as he fought to keep his eyes open.

She shook her head. "You need the bed more than me, Steve. You need to sleep and this arm chair is _way_ too small for you."

"Are you sure?" Steve covered his mouth as a yawn finally broke free, proving that the super soldier needed all the sleep he could get.

"Positive. I'll take the chair. It already looks like Bucky made a bed out of the couch." She looked over at the sleeping ex assassin which brought Steve's attention to him as well. "I'll text Pepper and let her know that we're going to need a plane for tomorrow morning."

"Thank you, Tracey," Steve said as he set a blanket on his friend. He walked back over to the female handing her a blanket and pillow of her own; she took it with a small thanks. "Good night." He yawned once more turning off the living room lights and made his way over to his bedroom.

Tracey yawned through a smile. She placed the pillow behind her head and curled up in the blanket. After finding a comfortable position on the chair she laid awake for a few minutes listening to the sound of the rain - that was still tapping on the window - before her eyes started to get heavy.

ooOOoo

Her eyes snapped open when she heard screaming. Sitting up straight she looked all around her through the darkness before her eyes landed on the form of Bucky on the couch. He was thrashing around, the blanket askew and nearly kicked onto the floor. The screaming was coming from him. His eyes were closed, proving that he was still asleep.

Tracey jumped off the arm chair and rushed over to him. She grabbed his shoulders, in hopes that she would be able to hold him down and stop him from thrashing about. She was wrong. She nearly fell over onto her butt from the force of his moving form.

"Bucky, wake up! It's a dream! Wake up, Bucky!" she called out over his screaming.

She placed her hands on his shoulders again, however, just as she moved to do so his eyes shot open. In a split second he stood up and had his metal hand around her throat. She coughed trying to get air into her lungs. She clawed at his arm, but his grip only tightened. Looking into his eyes she didn't see the vacant look he had earlier that night. His brow was furrowed and his eyes were not only vacant, they had a murderous look in them.

"Bucky…" she choked out as tears formed in her eyes. She was slowly losing consciousness and the edges of her vision was fading to black.

Not a second later after grabbing the blonde by the throat, Steve came barreling out of his room, obviously having heard Bucky's screams. However, he was not expecting to see Bucky with a vice grip on Tracey. Charging over to the two, Steve grabbed Bucky's arm, yelling at him to let go of her.

Bucky's face slowly relaxed and his eyes widened. His grip on Tracey loosened and she fell to the floor with a loud gasp, coughing as air rushed into her lungs. Bucky stared down in shock and horror at the woman on the ground. He looked from her to Steve, who had a look of concern across his face. The ex-assassin quickly backed away from the two into the wall.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry," Bucky said in a terrified voice as he slid down to the floor. He clutched the sides of his head and his face was contorted with fear as he looked from Steve to Tracey, who was panting as she regained air

Steve looked on heartbroken at the fear all over his best friends face as he cowered in the corner. Tracey had an equally hurt expression as she watched the man shake from his position across from them. She couldn't recall seeing any one looking as terrified as Bucky was at that moment. She turned to Steve to see him slowly approach the man, his hands up showing he wouldn't hurt him.

"Buck, it's okay. It's okay," Steve said as he crouched in front of him. He reached out a hand only to have Bucky flinch away.

"I'm sorry," Bucky whispered.

"Hey it's okay. Everything is okay," Steve reassured.

"I'm fine," Tracey spoke up in a soft voice. "No harm done."

Bucky looked at her with scared eyes then back up to Steve. He thought he was going to be punished for attacking the woman. He thought Steve was going to hit him. He couldn't stop thinking back to the punishments that were inflicted upon him when he was with HYDRA. He couldn't stop thinking about the nightmare. No. It was a memory. He saw himself, after he fell off the train. He was being dragged. Then the memory flashed to him in the lab. He remembered those times. That's what made it more of a nightmare. He constantly had flashes of those moments. But what was worse was when the memories flashed to him when he attacked Steve on the helicarrier back in DC. He didn't want to fight him. He may not remember everything, but he knew that Steve was his best friend. He didn't want to be controlled anymore. Forced to fight for HYDRA.

He lowered his head, hiding his face behind his hair. "I'm sorry…" he whispered.

Steve slowly wrapped an arm around Bucky's shoulders as he sat next to the defeated man. He went slow, not wanting to scare Bucky any further. It was only when Bucky didn't flinch away Steve put his arm around him pulling his friend into a hug, hoping to comfort him.

"I'm sorry, Steve."

"Everything's going to be okay, Bucky."

ooOOoo

It wasn't until Steve looked at the clock on the wall that he realized it was five in the morning. He knew that none of them were going to get back to sleep any time soon and Tracey had said that Tony was sending over a plane in the morning. That was back before they all went to sleep, he wasn't sure when the plane would arrive. Neither did Tracey. That was Tony Stark for you, always full of surprises.

With that in mind Steve got up from his spot on the floor next to Bucky – he never left after the small incident – and made his way over to the kitchen.

"I'm making breakfast," he announced. He turned to the two in the living room, Bucky sitting against the wall looking at his lap and Tracey sitting in the chair looking out the window. "How does eggs sound?"

"Sounds good," Tracey responded through a yawn. "Um scrambled please. If that's alright."

Steve smiled and nodded at the woman. "Bucky?" he asked, turning to the dark haired man.

Bucky only nodded slowly after staring at him for a solid minute. Steve smiled and went about the kitchen preparing the simple breakfast. He kept stealing glances over at Bucky, his brow furrowing with concern seeing as his friend never moved from his spot. He was still as a statue as he continued to stare at his lap. He pursed his lips together as he turned his attention back to the eggs.

Once he had set the table he brought the plates over to the two, urging Bucky to take his plate. He took it hesitantly and said a rushed thank you. Steve smiled at him as he led him to the couch. No one made a sound as they ate, the only sounds being the clinking and scraping of their forks against their plates.

Tracey had informed them at some point that Pepper messaged her saying the plane had arrived and was in a back runway at the airport. In less than an hour Steve had gotten Bucky some clothes to change into from his closet, Tracey had called a taxi and then the three of them made their way through the city to the airport. The ride over was quiet, just as the majority of the day had been, and fortunately the taxi driver wasn't the chatty type.

At the runway the three were greeted with two people standing in front of the Stark Industries plane. Sam turned away from the man, who was on the phone and had his back to them, and greeted them with a smile, but quickly turned to a look of shock when he saw Bucky standing next to Steve. He smiled lightly at Steve, who returned it.

"Looks like your searching is over, huh?" he said, clapping Steve on the back.

Steve walked over to Sam. "Yeah, I'm taking him to New York. Show him around. Hopefully he might remember some memories from back when we lived in Brooklyn," he said, rubbing the back of his neck as he watched Tracey try to talk to Bucky, smiling at him to try and ease his tension. Steve could tell that Bucky remembered him from DC. His guess was that his friend wasn't sure if Sam was as forgiving as him.

"I'm glad he's at least okay," Sam said. "Hey," he greeted Bucky, walking over to him. Sam took notice of the ex-assassin's hesitance. "Hey, man, it's cool. I'm not mad about the whole helicarrier incident." He offered a smile to Bucky, only to have him look down. He nodded understandingly before turning his attention to Tracey.

"So your brother is-"

He didn't get to finish what he was going to say as the man who was on the phone a moment ago pulled out a gun. Everything happened in a split second. The man had pulled Tracey behind him and pointed his gun at Bucky. Steve quickly placed himself between the man and Bucky; Sam stood to the side with his hands up in defense, not expecting the man with the gun's action.

"Barry, what are you doing?" Tracey yelled at the man in front of her.

"What the hell do you think I'm doing? Do you not know who that is?" Barry yelled back over his shoulder, not taking his eyes off of Bucky.

"Yes I do," Tracey shot back as she stepped out from behind her brother. She grabbed his arm, trying to lower the gun. "Put the gun away, Barry."

"Are you serious?" Barry said, glaring at her. "Tracey, I love you and all, but right now you're being stupid."

Tracey threw her hands in the air exasperatedly. "Barry, he's James Buchanan Barnes. Steve's best friend."

Barry's eyebrows rose slightly at the statement. "Wait, seriously?"

"Yes," Steve said as he tried to calm Bucky down, who had been tense and ready to attack Barry if the need arose. "He came to my apartment last night. He's slowly regaining his memories after whatever HYDRA did to him. I'll explain everything on the plane."

Tracey narrowed her eyes at her twin. "Barry George Madison. Put. The. Gun. Down."

Barry held his hands up, taking a step back. "Hey, chill. I was just looking out for my sister."

The group had finally relaxed, but Bucky had frozen. He stared at the siblings as they spoke with one another. His eyes glazed over as an image passed through his mind.

_A little girl with brown hair in pigtails was standing in a small kitchen, staring down at her feet as tears ran down her cheeks. She was standing in front of a young man with brown eyes and similar facial features who was crouching down to her level. The man's brows were furrowed as he watched the little girl sob._

"_What's wrong, Rebecca?" the man asked, rubbing soothing circles on the little girl's back._

"_Jamie Harrison pushed me down today," she sniffed._

"_He what?" The man's voice rose a tad, anger evident in it. "What happened?"_

"_I was playing with Mary and Ashley in the school yard. We were playing tag and then Jamie came along and started calling us names and saying we had cooties. I tried to get him to stop, but then he pushed me," Rebecca said. _

_The man chuckled. "Oh so he's afraid of cooties huh?" Rebecca nodded. "He's just being a boy, a not so smart one too. Boys don't like cooties, they think they're gross and girlie," he said, tickling the little girl's sides causing her to giggle. _

"_But I don't have cooties." She gasped and her eyes widened when she looked up at the young man. "Do I, Bucky?" _

_Bucky laughed. "It's just an old tale to scare boys. Boys your age think that girls have them and try to avoid them. So the next time Jamie bothers you and your friend you can just chase him around saying you'll give him your cooties if he doesn't leave you alone."_

_Rebecca smiled and giggled at that. "Really?"_

_Bucky smiled as he picked her up. "Really really. And if that doesn't work you can tell him that he'll have to deal with your older brother if he hurts you again."_

_Rebecca grinned and threw her arms around her brother's neck. "Thank you, Bucky. I love you!" She kissed his cheek. _

"_I love you too, Becca," he said, kissing her on the top of the head._

"Bucky? Bucky?"

Bucky whipped his head up and looked around at the four people standing in front of him, all staring at him. His eyes landed on Steve. He had his brow furrowed with worry as he stared back.

"What's wrong, Buck?" he asked.

Bucky opened his mouth and closed it. His brow furrowed as well as he thought back to the vision he saw. No a memory? He looked back up at Steve. "I had a little sister?"

Steve smiled. "Yeah. Her name was Rebecca."

Bucky looked down at his feet, a small smile playing at his lips. "I just remembered something…with her."

"Really? That's great, Bucky." Steve grinned, eyes lighting up.

"See," Tracey said, smacking Barry on the shoulder.

"Okay, okay." Barry said, rubbing his shoulder as he glared at her. He ran his hand through his light brown hair before rubbing the back of his neck. He turned to face Bucky. "Hey, man, uh sorry about pulling a gun on you."

Bucky eyed him warily before finally nodding quickly.

Sam clapped his hands, grabbing everyone's attention. "Okay, so how about we get to Stark's then? I'm not sure how long this plane has been waiting so let's not keep the pilot waiting."

"Right," Steve said. He turned to Bucky and put a hand on his shoulder. "You ready, pal?"

Bucky looked up at the plane, his eyes scanning every inch of it. Part of him expected it to be a trap, but if Steve was there with him, keeping him calm and safe just as he did with what just occurred with the man named Barry, he was a bit less wary. He looked at Steve, who was smiling at him, a reassuring smile that proved that nothing would happen to him. He nodded his head at the super soldier before facing the plane again. He was hesitant on moving, but he felt Steve give his shoulder a small squeeze.

"Nothing will happen, Bucky. And I'm sure Tracey has Barry in line." He chuckled when he saw Tracey give him a wink while Barry rolled his eyes. "Everything will be okay I promise."

Bucky nodded his head again. He swallowed right before he started walking with Steve onto the plane.

**Hey everyone! I hope you like the story so far. I'd love to hear what you think of it so far and if you have any critics or I'm messed up on anything to do with the movie or characters please let me know. Thank you!**


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

Bucky didn't know what to make of Pepper Potts. Once he stepped foot on the plane he saw everyone greeting a red haired woman. The woman was dressed in a black business suit with her hair pulled up into a neat, tight bun. She had a friendly face, but the air she gave off was intimidating. She greeted Tracey and Barry with a hug each, Steve had given her a smile and a hand shake, and she was introduced to Sam and gave him a smile and handshake as well. With Bucky she greeted him with a warm smile, but when she reached out to give him a hand shake he stepped back abruptly. Her face fell when he did so and Steve was the one to step forward.

"Um, Ms. Potts, I'm not sure how much you know about what happened in DC," he began. "But he is – uh was – the Winter Soldier."

"You mean the man from the files that SHIELD wrote about before the helicarrier incident?" she questioned.

"Leaked files from the internet?" Sam guessed.

Pepper nodded. "I'm sorry to say that everyone will be reading up on the files from SHIELD. That is also why Tony hired Tracey to retrieve them."

"Finally putting your computer skills to work, huh, sis?" Barry chuckled making Tracey smirk and roll her eyes.

"Anyways, back to the uh Winter Soldier?" Pepper said, looking from Bucky to Steve. "Seeing as no one has been attacked I'm guessing he's on our side now?"

Steve nodded. "Ms. Potts, this is my friend Bucky Barnes."

Peppers eyebrows rose. "Really?" She turned back to Bucky and smiled. "It's nice to meet you Mr. Barnes."

Bucky avoided eye contact with her, still not sure how to approach her, let alone what to make of her. Was she friend or enemy? However, judging by how she interacted with the rest of the group he figured that she was a friend. It was her intimidating presence that made him unsure. Another thing was that he was uncomfortable with how she had stared at his metal arm for a fleeting second. He gripped the prosthetic with his flesh hand as he continued to stare at the ground.

Steve patted Bucky lightly on the shoulder. "From what I've figured out, due to whatever Bucky has been through with HYDRA his memories hare gone and he is slowly getting them back. That's what I'm guessing, he uh hasn't told me what happened, but I plan to help him no matter what. That's why he and I are coming back with Tracey to New York. Growing up there I believe he might remember some familiar things."

Pepper nodded understandingly. "Of course. And if you two need a place to stay there is plenty of room at the tower." She turned to Sam and Barry. "Same goes to you two. You are more than welcome to stay with us and if Tony has any complaints I'll be sure to silence them."

Sam laughed. "Sounds good. I've always wanted to see New York and meeting the infamous Tony Stark will be quite the experience."

"Well if you're looking for a good time, you're going to the right man," Barry said, smirking.

Pepper sighed through a laugh. "Yes, Tony is like that, however, he has been a bit busy with trying to get SHIELD's files back."

"Yeah," Barry said, taking a seat in one of the cushioned plane chairs, kicking his feet up on a table in front of him. "But that's why he also hired Tracey. No one's a better hacker than Trace here."

"Tony knows that," Tracey said, kicking his feet down as she crossed in front of him to take the seat beside him.

Pepper and Sam followed the two and took seats of their own. Steve urged Bucky to take a seat, reassuring him that everything was alright. Soon the plane had taken off and the group had made themselves comfortable. Steve and Sam recollected the events in DC with Pepper, leaving the bits with Bucky seeing as he was slowly closing in on himself at the beginning of the conversation. Steve made sure the topic was mostly on how HYDRA had infiltrated SHIELD and how Alexander Pierce turned against Fury. They told her how he had planned to use the helicarriers to take out all possible threats to HYDRA around the world. She listened intently, as she always did when given information, and asked questions when needed to get further information.

Bucky tuned them out, not wanting to hear the DC story again. He knew what happened, he didn't want to be reminded. He stared out the window watching the clouds lazily float past as the plane made its way to New York. Hearing the words New York sounded familiar. As he stared out the window flashes of brick buildings and streets popped in his head. He saw men and women; boys and girls all smiling and happy as they walked the streets. He saw a small and skinny Steve next to him as the two walked down a street. He saw him and Steve at a diner, then another time at the movies.

Bucky sighed. He knew what they were. Memories. That's all he's been seeing lately. He wasn't complaining though. These were good memories. Ones that he wish he knew the full story of instead of fleeting images.

"Bucky," came a soft voice.

Bucky broke from his thoughts and looked up to see Pepper looking at him from her seat, a small, friendly smile on her face.

"Would you like anything to drink?" she asked, her voice conveying no fear, only kindness.

Bucky looked at her. Analyzing her as she smiled at him. He thought about the question. Hearing it, he realized how thirsty he actually was. His throat was a bit dry.

With a little hesitation, he nodded. "Water?" he asked in a quiet voice.

Pepper's smile brightened. "No problem," she said, getting up from her seat and crossing over to the other side of the plane where a mini bar was held with bottles and glasses.

Bucky felt a hand on his shoulder and saw Steve giving him a small smile before turning back to Barry who was talking about something or another. Bucky wasn't sure, he hadn't been paying attention to anything until Pepper spoke to him after all.

Tracey rolled her eyes at a joke Barry made, which had gone over Steve's head. She smiled remembering how Barry had told her he planned on educating Steve in today's pop culture. Well, it was Tony's idea to begin with, which is why Steve now carried his tiny notebook of things he needs to do, eat, and see from the last seven decades. She and Sam laughed when Steve questioned Barry on whatever he was talking, causing the brown haired man to gawk.

Tracey got up and walked over to Pepper asking if she needed help. The red haired woman replied with a nod and a thank you. The two quickly gathered up a few glasses as they prepared the drinks from the mini bar.

Barry chuckled as Sam gave Steve another thing to add to his list of things he needs to do. He looked over at Bucky and frowned, he felt bad for pulling his gun on him now that he realized who he was to Steve. Barry didn't know the full story of what had happened with him and HYDRA, but the man seemed to scowl or tense up at the mention of HYDRA or the DC incident and he could somewhat tell that Bucky didn't have any say in what he could do while with them. Barry looked up as Tracey and Pepper were getting the drinks and right then an idea came to mind. He smirked as he got up and made his way over to his sister.

He crept up making sure to not make a sound as he neared her. Right before the blonde woman turned around he jabbed his fingers into her sides. Tracey squealed and jumped, causing her to nearly drop the glass in her hand (however the carpet wasn't so lucky, some of the drink spilled over the top of the glass).

Tracey whipped around with the empty hand over her heart. "Oh my Lord!"

Barry laughed as he rushed back over to his seat before his sister could smack him. She would get him when she got back to her seat, he knew that much, but might as well prolong the attack.

Sam and Steve had chuckled at Barry's antics while Tracey scowled at her twin and Pepper shook her head at the spilled drink on the carpet. Bucky had whipped around at the sound of Tracey's shriek. He had watched as Barry ran back to his seat laughing before looking over at Tracey, who had her hand over her heart.

"Oh my Lord!"

Bucky starred at her. He had heard that somewhere. He had seen someone with their hand over their heart, the way Tracey had, before. He looked down as he tried to pin point where he had seen a similar situation and slowly stared off into space. He was remembering something.

_Bucky stood outside of Steve's apartment door. He had just gotten to the apartment when he heard the sound of clicking against concrete. He smirked when he saw the top of a head of golden curls bobbing up the steps. He leaned against the wall as he saw the owner of the blonde hair walk up to the top of the steps. Her head was down as she began to shift a bag of groceries from one arm to the other in order to reach her purse. She pulled out a set of keys and approached the door next to Steve's, head still down as she flipped through the assortment of keys, unaware of the young man watching her. _

_ Bucky smirked before walking over to her, careful not to make a sound. "Hi, Linda."_

_ The blonde woman jumped, a box of cereal falling out of the brown paper bag of groceries, and turned around to see who had snuck up on her. Her hand was over her heart and her eyes were wide. "Oh my Lord!" Her heart had been pounding from the small fright, but seeing Bucky Barnes in front of her made her heart rate pick up even more and her cheeks to grow warm. "Bucky, I-I didn't see you there."_

_ Bucky bent down and retrieved the fallen box of cereal. "Sorry, Linda, didn't mean to scare you." He smiled as he handed her the item. _

_ She quickly snatched it out of his hand with a hurried "Thank you". She turned around and began to fumble with her keys yet again. Bucky watched as her hand shook as she tried to put the key in the lock, missing a few times before finally getting it._

_ "So, Linda. I was wondering," Bucky began, catching the woman's attention. He smiled when she turned around, the pink of her cheeks still there. "If you'd like to go see that Snow White movie. I heard it was a pretty good film and I thought you might enjoy it. What do you say?" He flashed her one of his charming smiles._

_ Linda's cheeks burned even more. "I-I-I-I…I um I…I can't, I'm busy." She said the last part in a rush, trying to make up for her stutter at the beginning._

_ Bucky's face fell, but he quickly covered it up with a smile. "Now, I'm sure a pretty dame like yourself isn't too busy to take a day off and have some fun."_

_ Linda shook her head vigorously, her blonde curls bouncing to and fro. "I'm sorry, Bucky. But I can't. But I uh…um I think Connie Wright might like to see it," she said, referring to the brunette woman down the street. "You should uh…you should ask her."_

_ Bucky gave a nod. "Alright. But the invitation is open if you change your mind, Linda." He gave her a wink and chuckled when her cheeks flared pink yet again. _

_ "Um…I uh…goodbye!" Linda ducked her head and quickly shut the door. _

_ Bucky stared at the door before running a hand through his dark hair and sighed. He hung his head back and stared up at the ceiling before he walked back to Steve's apartment door._

When Bucky finally came back to the present he was met with no one staring at him this time, much to his relief. However, he saw that Tracey was reprimanding Barry as he helped Pepper clean up the spilled drink off of the carpet. Sam was shaking his head as he watched the male twin help the ginger woman, saying something about Pepper shouldn't be the one cleaning up his mess. Tracey was back at the mini bar grabbing the last of the drinks and bringing it over to the seats.

She handed Bucky his glass of water, offering him a warm smile. He stared up at her, eyes filled with confusion as he thought back to the memory he just had. He took the water hesitantly, but Tracey continued to smile at him when he did before taking her seat again.

Bucky was still thinking about the woman from the memory and who she could have possibly been in his past when he had caught the look Steve was giving him. It was the same look the super soldier had given him on the run way after his memory of his sister. It was a look of concern. So much for no one staring at him.

"You okay, Buck?" Steve asked.

Bucky shifted his eyes to the carpet, still thinking back to the memory. He looked back up at Steve, not sure how to ask his question. He could see the look of worry on Steve's face as he struggled to speak.

"I…I had another memory…"

Steve's face lit up. The fact that Bucky had already gained two memories in only a few hours was a good sign. He knew that the rest of the journey to gain his memories back wouldn't be just as easy, but it was a start and he was glad that it was at least a quick start.

"I'm not sure…what the memory was though."

Steve gave Bucky an encouraging smile. "What happened in it? Maybe I can help you figure it out."

Bucky hesitated as he thought over the memory again. He wondered if it really was a memory or something that he somehow made up on the spot. Was the woman from the memory real? What if it really was something he had made up and he disappointed Steve, making him believe that he had actually gained another memory?

He looked down at the ground again. "It…I saw." He took a deep breath before beginning again. "There was this woman. She had blonde hair and…and I was asking her out on a date..." He looked back up at his friend, eyebrows furrowing and arching up in worry. "Who was she?"

Steve furrowed his brow as he thought over the limited description of the woman. Bucky had asked many young woman on dates in the forties and there were a few blondes he had asked as well. He looked up as Tracey smacked Barry on the side of the head when the man finally sat back down after cleaning up his mess and Steve finally realized it. He had noticed Bucky starring off at the wall right after Barry had scared Tracey.

"Was her name Linda?" Steve asked.

"Yes," Bucky replied, his eyes looking hopeful at his friend. It was a relief to hear the woman's name from Steve. The memory wasn't a fake, but real.

Steve smiled. "Her name was Linda Carolton."

"Was she…was she someone we knew?"

"She was my neighbor in the apartment, but we didn't know her that well. She was really shy. You would try to ask her out practically every time you saw her," he chuckled and the corners or Bucky's lips twitched upward as Steve explained. "You probably remembered her because of Tracey."

"What did I do?" Tracey asked, turning her attention from Sam and Barry over to the two super humans.

"I was telling Bucky about your aunt Linda," Steve explained.

"Oh yeah! I remember you telling me about how you knew her sometime after we first met," Tracey said, a smile growing on her face.

"Tracey and Barry are Linda's great niece and nephew. I was a little shocked when I found as well," Steve said to Bucky, patting his leg.

"Wait, seriously?" Sam said. "You two are the niece and nephew of someone Steve and Bucky knew from the forties. Dang! Small world."

"Didn't you say I looked like her or something?" Tracey asked, taking a sip from her own glass of water.

Steve chuckled. "You have her smile and Barry has her eyes."

"Right," Barry said. "That's how the conversation came up wasn't it?"

"Yeah. Although Tracey only has Linda's smile, she reminds me of her quite a bit," Steve said.

Bucky's eyes flickered over to Tracey as she looked over at the blonde super soldier next to him. Looking back at the memory he had, she and Linda had the same smile.

"How so?" Tracey said, tilting her head to the side in question.

"You have the same caring personality as her. Before I became Captain America I was pretty scrawny and got sick a lot and whenever I did she would come over with some soup. She'd come over and take care of me whenever Bucky was busy at work on something."

Bucky chuckled making Steve smile wide and everyone look at him. "You were pretty scrawny."

Steve grinned. "Yeah I was. And you would always get me out of fights because of that."

"…I remember that." Bucky smiled. It was a small smile, but it was still something which made Steve hopeful. He was remembering little bits and pieces which was a good sign.

Steve smiled back at him before turning back to Tracey. "I do have to say, one big difference between you and Linda is that she was very shy whereas, you are pretty outgoing."

"Don't forget stubborn," Barry quipped. "Ow!" He rubbed his shoulder where Tracey punched him as he glared at her. Tracey retaliated by sticking her tongue out at him making Pepper laugh from next to her.

"You can blame the stubbornness on Barry," Tracey said, pointing a thumb at him. "Growing up with him, I had to fight for the things I wanted, like the remote control."

Sam laughed. "Sounds like typical sibling fights." He turned to Barry. "For a SHIELD agent you sure have a low pain tolerance for punches."

"Ex SHIELD agent," Barry corrected. "And you haven't been punched by Tracey. She hits hard!"

"You two are something else," Sam laughed.

Pepper cleared her throat. "I think we are almost at the run way. Tony messaged me that he sent Happy over to pick us up."

"Sweet! Haven't seen Happy in a long time. Along with Tony," Barry said with a grin.

"Just behave. I know how you and Tony are when you two get together," Tracey said with a small laugh.

Pepper smiled. "Tony's been close to blowing up the lab a few times with Bruce. There's not much harm Barry can do to the tower."

"Give him the chance, I'm sure Barry would be the extra push Tony needs to blow up something," Tracey said.

"Probably," Barry laughed.

ooOOoo

Stepping off the plane everyone was met with a dark haired man standing outside of a sleek, black limousine. Barry ran up to him, giving the man a high five while Tracey gave him a hug. The man greeted the twins warmly and gave Pepper a polite nod with a smile. She introduced Sam to him, the two exchanging greetings and a hand shake. Steve had also introduced Bucky to Happy, who greeted him like he did with Sam, however, Bucky refrained from shaking the man's hand. He ended up staring at the ground, avoiding eye contact with Happy and holding his metal arm.

The car ride over to the tower was quiet, with a bit of conversations between Tracey and Pepper. It was calm, but for Bucky it was uncomfortable. He wasn't used to being in closed spaces with so many people. He was sitting next to Steve, who would give him warm, reassuring smiles every so often and telling him everything would be okay. Bucky was nervous though. He had no idea what the tower was and who was there. His mind kept going to HYDRA and wondering where they were. Each building they drove past he would scan the windows and the sidewalk outside them. He was scared HYDRA was out there – in any of those buildings – looking for him.

Bucky's actions didn't go unnoticed by Steve. The super soldier saw his friend's eyes flicking over ever building and every person outside of the limo. He frowned. He could only guess that after years of being trained by HYDRA to be an assassin the habits of scanning everything around Bucky is stuck with him. More so, Steve knew who Bucky was looking out for – HYDRA.

Steve put his hand on Bucky's neck, giving it a squeeze. "Don't worry, Buck. Everything's fine, nothing's going to happen to you," he said, giving him a warm smile.

Bucky only stared at Steve with the same sad, scared look that was in his eyes, but he attempted a small smile either way before turning back to look out the window.

It was a couple more minutes until the limo stopped in front of a tall building. At the top, Bucky noticed a large A. He scrunched up his brow in worry. Was this the place Steve was talking about with the others? The place where this Tony guy was? He turned to Steve for an answer, but only got the same reassuring smile Steve gave him to let him know everything was okay. Bucky smiled a little, worry still etched on his face.

"Happy, why don't you pull into the garage?" Pepper said, noticing Bucky's worried look. "I think it would be better if we don't walk through the lobby. I believe there are some clients coming in and I don't think Bucky is ready to be around a lot of people yet."

Steve smiled at Pepper, giving her a quick thanks as he felt Bucky tense up a little next to him at the mention of unknown people. "It's okay, Bucky. Everything's fine."

Bucky nodded, watching as Happy pulled the car into a large enclosed room where many other cars were parked. He sucked in a breath seeing as there were no windows anywhere, except a door on one side of the room. He felt Steve put a hand on him and turned to look at his friend.

"Everything's going to be fine. I promise, Buck," Steve repeated

Everyone had climbed out of the black car and making their way to the door as Steve and Bucky stepped out as well. Bucky followed Steve silently as Pepper led the group through the door, which turned out to be an elevator. She pressed a button and in a second the elevator rushed upwards to whatever floor they were headed to. Bucky's face scrunched up even further as the worry of not knowing what was waiting for him next was resting on his shoulders.

Steve kept saying everything was alright, but was it? He pushed the thought out of his head. He knew Steve wouldn't trick him. He trusted Steve. He knew Steve was his best friend and wouldn't betray him. Steve had been treating him with care, something he hadn't remembered, yet alone felt, while he was with HYDRA. He knew he could trust Steve and that whatever was awaiting next wouldn't harm him.

Once the elevator stopped, the doors opened up revealing a large spacious room. Stepping out the group saw a large bar on one side of the wall, a living room on the other side, and a kitchen across from the living room. Barry and Sam had a look of awe as they took in the sight.

"Damn! This place is huge!" Sam exclaimed, nodding his head slowly as he walked around.

Barry whistled. "I don't think I can even picture the other floors. I should have visited like Tracey."

Pepper smiled. "I think Tony would have appreciated seeing you again, Barry. Although you two always seem to get into some sort of trouble."

Tracey rolled her eyes with a snort. "Seem? They definitely get into trouble."

"Speaking of trouble. Where is Tony?" Steve asked as he led Bucky over to the living room couch.

"Jarvis," Pepper called out. "Can you tell Tony to come up to the top floor?"

"Yes, Ms. Potts," a disembodied voice answered.

Bucky jumped, quickly searching left and right for the source of the voice. Steve quickly put his hands on Bucky's shoulders, trying to get him to sit back down on the couch. Pepper gasped as she looked over at the two.

"I'm so sorry, Bucky," she began. "I didn't think about how you would react to Jarvis."

"What did Jarvis do?" came another new voice.

Everyone turned around to see Tony Stark walking into the room in a Black Sabath t-shirt and old jeans. Bucky eyed him warily as the new man walked up to Pepper. Tony gave a quick kiss on Pepper's cheek as she gave him a hello. His face broke out into a grin when he saw Barry and Tracey.

"I never thought I'd see you again," he said, clapping a hand on Barry's shoulder before pulling him into a quick hug. "Mona Lisa I already knew was coming since I hired her. But I didn't think I'd be seeing you any time soon, Space Cadet."

Barry laughed at the nickname. "It's great to see you too, Tony."

Tony then noticed Sam standing over by Tracey. He extended his hand to the man. "And you must be Sam Wilson. Read your files and about your bit from what happened in DC. Nice to meet you. You'll have to show me those wings of yours sometime."

Sam grinned. "Nice to meet you as well. I'm gonna need to get a new pair of wings though. Kinda lost them in DC."

Tony's face lit up at the news. "New pair? I'm your guy. I can whip up a pair for you in no time."

"I wouldn't doubt it," Sam laughed.

"Capsicle!" Tony practically shouted at Steve as he walked over to him and Bucky.

Steve looked down at Bucky and noticed him tense up as Tony approached. He quickly squeezed his shoulder once more before Tony gave the super soldier a quick pat on the back.

"Great to see you again, Tony," Steve greeted.

Tony glanced at Bucky and extended his hand. "Tony Stark, but you've probably heard of me," he said with a smirk.

Bucky only stared at his hand, not entirely sure what to make of the new face in front of him.

Tony's smirk fell when Bucky didn't respond to his introduction. "And you are?"

"Uh, Tony, this is Bucky Barnes," Steve said, stepping forward. "My best friend from the forties."

Tony's usual cocky smile appeared on his face as he glanced from Bucky to Steve. "So winter has finally come."

**I am so sorry for the late chapter. Life has been a bit hectic. I've been looking for a job all over the place and two of the places I had applied to have already hired and I'm having no luck whatsoever with landing a job. Then I have my sister's wedding coming up this week actually, which I'm excited for and can't believe it's already here holy crap. I've also had to help my mom around the house, cleaning and helping out in the yard so the house looks nice for some relatives who will be staying with us for a few days after the wedding. Along with all of that I had major writer's block with this chapter. I kept questioning myself as I wrote this chapter. I wasn't sure how well the bit with introducing Linda would go and if I played it out well enough. **

**Any ways, I hope you enjoyed the chapter and reviews are awesome. I'd love to hear what you guys think of the story so far. Critiques are welcomed. I love to hear if I've messed up on some part or character or if anything else that might pop out at you. Thanks again.**


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four

Tony smirked as he looked at Steve, who was sitting across from him on the couch across from him. Bucky occupied the seat next to him, staring down at the carpeted floor, wringing his hands in his lap. He was uncomfortable with the way Tony kept glancing over at his arm. The scientist looked at it with wonder filled eyes. Bucky felt like he was on some sort of pedestal for show, he didn't like it. He just wanted to blend into the background unnoticed. He was a little – just a little bit – relaxed whenever Steve patted his leg, still assuring him that everything will be okay.

He took a peek around the room, observing what everyone else was doing. Sam and Barry were at the kitchen counter talking and laughing while Pepper was talking to Tracey at the kitchen table. Pepper had a folder that said 'Stark Industries' with her with papers nearly falling out while Tracey had a computer in front of her. The blonde kept nodding her head to the red haired woman as she talked. Once Pepper was done with whatever she had to say the two woman set to work with the things they had in front of them.

Bucky's observations were interrupted by Steve clapping a hand on his shoulder. The ex-assassin mentally cursed at himself, realizing what he had been doing. Observing the people around him anywhere he went was a habit – a bad one. It was one installed in his memory by HYDRA after so many years of training and missions. He needed to break it if he wanted to keep HYDRA out of his life and start over again as Bucky Barnes. If he was able to get all his memories back that is.

He turned back to Steve to see him still talking to Tony and not wanting to talk to him. Apparently the captain was still letting him know that it was going to be okay.

"I was thinking," Steve started, leaning his elbows on his knees. "That if Bruce isn't too busy, if he could give Bucky a checkup. Just to make sure he's alright."

Bucky tensed at the word checkup only to loosen up when Steve patted his knee, sensing his tension.

Tony rubbed his hand over his chin as he leaned back in his chair. "Good idea, Capsicle." He turned his head up slightly as he called out, "JARVIS, have Bruce come to the top floor with his bag."

"Right away, sir," came the accented voice of the AI.

Bucky still found the disembodied voice unnerving and yet fascinating at the same time.

"I'll also check your arm out, if you want," Tony said, turning to Bucky, who furrowed his brow in confusion and apprehension. "Don't think I didn't notice you flinching every now and then. Something's acting up in that arm of yours and you may not trust me – let alone know me – but I know I'm the only one who can help fix your arm."

Bucky gripped his arm as he stared at Tony wide eyed fright. Steve on the other hand looked at his best friend worried.

"Your arm's acting up?" he asked. "It's hurting you. Why didn't you say anything, Buck?"

Bucky down casted his head, avoiding eye contact with Steve. "…I didn't want to worry you."

"Bucky, if you're in pain you can tell me," Steve said, catching a twitch from Bucky's left shoulder. "We're here to help."

"Like I said, I can fix that arm of yours," Tony said.

"What do you say, Bucky?" Steve said, turning to look at Bucky, who was staring at the carpet yet again.

Bucky's brow furrowed. He didn't know if he could trust anyone to fix him. He was used to being patched up by HYDRA nurses after every mission, sitting in that damn chair, and then being shoved back into the cryo tank. He didn't know what he wanted to do, however, he did know that he could stand the small shocks he would get from the wiring in his arm every minute.

Pursing his lips he looked at Steve, nodding his head. "Y-yeah…"

Tony grinned widely just as the elevator doors opened revealing Bruce walking in with a brown leather bag in his hand. He smiled at Pepper and Tracey `on his way over to the three men in the living room.

Steve stood up, shaking hands and patting Bruce on the shoulder. "Good to see you again, Bruce," he greeted.

Bruce smiled lightly, nodding his head. "You too, Steve." He nodded at Tony, who grinned in return before turning to Bucky. He smiled at him. "You must be Bucky Barnes. Sorry, I uh read the file on you," he apologized, seeing Steve's confused face. "I'm Bruce Banner. I was told you needed a checkup?"

"If you don't mind," Steve said.

"Not at all. It gives me an excuse to get out of the lab and see people for once," Bruce said with a laugh.

He placed his bag down on the coffee table, pulling out the tools needed. Bucky watched, his eyes growing wide as he watched Bruce take out the tools. He saw Bruce approach as he sat frozen in fear. Images flashed through his mind and a familiar and unwanted voice followed.

"_Clean him up and then prep him. When you're done put him in the cryo tube." _Alexander Pierce's voice rang through his head.

In an instant Bucky was on his feet, throwing Bruce across the room. Gasps and shouts filled the floor as everyone was on their feet. Tony, Sam and Barry were running to Bruce as Pepper and Tracey stood to the side, unsure of what to do and as Steve tried to grab Bucky. The brown haired man pushed the super soldier away, rushing away from him and everyone. Tears were brimming his eyes as he shook his head furiously. He looked around at the scene. He then looked to Steve with the same horrified eyes he had the night he was at the apartment. Steve stood with his hands up as Bucky continued to shake his head, a few tears running down his cheeks.

"I don't want to forget, Steve," he whimpered. "I don't want to forget again."

Steve approached him slowly, eventually wrapping his arms around his friend. "You won't, I promise."

He turned to where Bruce was being talked to and helped up. Tony was patting him on the back as Barry helped him lead the doctor to a chair. Bruce looked up at Steve and Bucky.

"Are you alright?" he asked Bucky.

Bucky stared at him, dazed. He had just thrown him across the room and was being asked if he was alright.

He slowly nodded his head.

Bruce sighed and smiled at him. "I know what you're thinking," he said with a small chuckle. "The answer is I know what it's like to be unstable and not be in control." He smiled warmly as the ex-assassin continued to stare in confusion. "Whenever I get mad, I turn into a giant green monster. I know what you're feeling."

Bucky lowered his head. "I'm sorry."

"Its fine, everything's okay."

"Yeah, Brucie here is our calming and meditation guru. He knows how to handle situations like these," Tony said.

Bruce laughed. Thanks." He turned back to Bucky. "You can take your time. Just let me know when you're ready."

Bucky nodded, a smile playing at his lips as Steve patted his back.

ooOOoo

Once Bruce and Steve had assured Bucky that they wouldn't hurt him, the soldier allowed Bruce to exam him. Tony had suggested that HYDRA may have figured put a tracker on his arm even after everything that had happened in Washington DC. Bruce set to work on seeing if he was okay health wise, while Steve stood to the side leaning against the wall. Tony waited somewhat patiently to exam Bucky's metal arm, his foot tapping anxiously all the while, before he walked over to one of his computers.

All the while Tracey was working on her computer trying to look up a new apartment and helping Tony regain the files from SHIELD at the same time. Every now and then she'd look over at Bruce and Bucky to make sure everything was going okay. She could see Bucky tense every other minute only to relax after a few seconds or so after Steve gave his knee a squeeze, reassuring him everything was alright as he has been doing all day. She couldn't imagine what was going through his head at the moment and after the show that just happened when Bruce tried to look at him the first time she figured that he was having memory lapses from his time at HYDRA. She certainly didn't want to imagine what he could have been through there. She was snapped out of her thoughts as Pepper offered her a cup of tea. Smiling at the red head and giving her a quick thanks she got right back to work trying to figure out what Tony wanted her to do to help rebuild SHIELD. What he thought a non-SHIELD agent like her could do to help the organization was beyond her.

Unknown to her she didn't see Barry walk over to Tony and whisper something into his ear. The two shared grins as they snuck a peak at the blonde woman in front of them. Tony watched as Pepper walked past them, who raised an eyebrow at him as she caught the shared look. He gave her an innocent smile and quickly kissed her cheek before she rolled her eyes and walked out of the room. He turned his attention to the glowing monitors that hovered in the air in front of him and set to work typing something out as Barry silently laughed next to him.

Tracey's eyes roamed her screen as she looked over the programs on her computer that would help with her recovering the files and making sure they were up to date and there were no bugs. She sighed and ran a hand through her hair; she decided to take a break and go back to apartment hunting. Right before she clicked on one of the apartment complex links under Google she had an email popping up. Reading the sender it said from Tony and the subject reading "Important files needed to be dealt with". Raising an eyebrow and scrunching up her face puzzled, she clicked on it wondering what files he needed her to handle. Clicking it she was met with loud descending drum beats that echoed throughout the room. Next thing she knew she was looking at the music video for Rick Astley's Never Gonna Give You Up.

"Are you kidding me?!" she yelled, causing everyone to look in her direction. "Tony!"

She whipped her head around to see Barry and Tony laughing their heads off. Barry was doubled over with laughter as Tony just threw his head back laughing. Steve looked over at the blonde's computer screen raising an eyebrow in confusion while Bruce looked on with amusement as he watched Tracey click out of the music video only for two more to pop up. He chuckled a little as more and more music videos popped up. Bucky had tensed when he heard her yell, thinking back to some moments with HYDRA when he would get yelled at for doing something wrong during the beginning of the Winter Soldier training – and memory wiping, but raised an eyebrow as he watched Tracey turn around and yell at the two men behind her and lob a pencil at Tony.

Tony laughed and dodged the oncoming projectile. "Whoa there, Mona Lisa."

"Are you serious? You Rick rolled me? Really? What are you five?" she yelled.

"Hey, it was Barry's idea," he defended, pointing to the male twin next to him.

Barry snickered as he dodged another pencil. "Hey, he's the one who followed through and sent the email. I just gave him the idea."

Tracey scoffed and rolled her eyes. "I swear to God," she mumbled. She got up and walked over to the Avenger and shoved her laptop into his hands. "Fix it."

"You're the hacker. Why do you need my help?"

"You're the one who wanted my help getting SHIELD's files back."

"Yeah, but it looked like you were on Google instead of helping." Tony smirked. "And who can pass up such great music?" he said gesturing to the eighties singer on her screen.

Tracey just stared at him with a glare as she crossed her arms. She rubbed her temples as she saw Tony give her a cheeky grin from over her laptop's screen. "Let's not forget that I was just evicted from my apartment. And I'd prefer to have my own place than stay at Hotel Stark. Or would you rather I show Pepper the files I found on your suits you've been working on?"

"What?" Pepper yelled from over in the kitchen.

Tony's face fell and his eyes widened as he turned to see his girlfriend storming over to him. "Pep, I can explain."

"You said you were done with those suits of yours!" she yelled. Her face was beyond furious as she stood in front of the billionaire.

"You have to understand. The Avengers is still a thing and if the need arose for us to fight I would need a suit," Tony tried to defend himself, putting his hands up in surrender.

"Did you forget about what happened last time? You nearly died!" she screamed, tears forming in her eyes, which narrowed before she stormed back over to the kitchen.

"Pepper," Tony sighed, following her.

Bruce cleared his throat, causing the rest of the people in the room to turn away from the couple and go back to their own things. Turning back to Bucky he gave him the okay to finally sit up before he directed his attention to Tony. "Everything seems to be fine. You're in perfect health," he said, giving the super soldier a small smile.

Bucky nodded before looking at Steve, who gave him a smile as well and a squeeze on the neck.

"Everything is okay, Bucky. I told you."

Bucky pursed his lips before a small smile graced his face. "Thanks, Steve."

"So," Tony said, clapping his hands as he approached the three men having just finished making up with Pepper, who seemed to be in a better mood. "Shall we get started on Robocop's arm then?" Tony grinned, eyeing Bucky's metal arm like a child on Christmas morning.

Bucky shrank under his gaze, grabbing his arm with his flesh one and turning his body away from the grinning man. Steve patted Bucky on the shoulder before turning to Tony.

"Tony, not that I don't appreciate you helping, but you're making Bucky uncomfortable."

Tony placed a hand on his chest, feigning hurt. "Me make someone uncomfortable?"

Tracey rolled her eyes before turning in her seat to face the group of men surrounding the arm chair Bucky was sitting in. "Try not staring at his arm like a kid in a candy shop and you'll be fine, Stark."

Tony snorted at Tracey's comment before turning back to Bucky and Steve. "Alright, what do you say I take a look at your arm, Buckaroo?"

Bucky raised an eyebrow staring at Tony. He looked to Steve for an answer, only to see the super soldier shake his head.

"Just go with it. He gives everyone nicknames."

Tony pulled up a chair, situating himself next to Bucky's. Bucky hesitated as he saw Tony's gaze on his arm again.

"You know what?" Tony said, standing back up. "I just realized I need my tools. How about you, me, and Capsicle head down to my lab. You can come too if you want, Brucie," he said, grinning at the curly haired man, who smiled lightly back in return.

Steve pinched the bridge of his nose as he and Bucky followed the two scientists to the elevator. "Can you stop calling me that, Tony? Being frozen isn't the only thing I've done with my life."

"Okay, Stars and Stripes." Tony grinned over his shoulder at Steve as the sandy blonde haired man groaned. The scientist turned over to the remaining people on the floor. "When we're done I'll show you guys to your floors."

"We get our own _floors_?" Sam asked incredulous. "I should have met you a long time ago, man!"

"What do you want me to do once the files are retrieved from the internet? It might take a while to extract them from every website that they are posted on, but I'm sure I can get this done in a few days or so," Tracey said, poking her head over her laptop. "Plus I'm positive with it being SHIELD and from what I've heard of them there will be a lot of files."

"Pepper will give you a thumb drive for them. Once you're done, you can upload them onto that and I'll take it from there." Tony smiled at the blonde, stopping the elevator doors just as they were closing. "I knew you were the best choice for this job, Trace."

Tracey smile back at him just as the doors closed.

Barry clapped his hands, breaking the silence that filled the room once the four men left. "So, you ever play Mario Kart before, Sam?"

The other man grinned at the brunette. "Who hasn't? You better be careful though. I'm not just good at flying."

"Alright!" Barry cheered.

Tracey rolled her eyes with a laugh as she watched the two grown men rush over to the couch and pulling out a Wii console. She turned to Pepper, who was giggling to herself at their antics.

_Living here is going to be something else. _she thought.

ooOOoo

The clanging of metal doors opening announced to everyone on the floor that someone was coming off the elevator. Sure enough Tony, Steve, and Bucky walked off the elevator back to the top floor. It had been at most an hour and a half to fix the wiring in Bucky's metal arm, but it was worth the relief of not being shocked every so often to sit in the chair down in the lab.

Tracey waved at the three from the same spot at the kitchen table they left her at. Tony laughed when he saw Barry and Sam yelling at each other as they played Mario Kart. He walked over grabbing one of the remote control steering wheels and settling on the couch with them. Bucky stood a distance away from the three, intrigued as to what they were doing.

Steve chuckled as he watched Bucky observe them for a second before taking a seat next to Tracey. "How's the hunt going?"

"Pretty good," Tracey said, biting the inside of her cheek. "I was definitely right about the files being extensive. There's so much stuff that they've recorded that can easily be used to start wars or cause some sort of chaos if someone gets a hold of the weapons files. They have files on every member of SHIELD, including you."

"I wouldn't be surprised," Steve sighed. "SHIELD was always full of things that I wasn't aware of." He ran a hand through his hair as he took a peek over her shoulder. "Have you been reading any of the files?"

Tracey shook her head. "Not my business to read them. I'm just here to gather them up and hand them off to Tony to take care of." She turned to him, looking him in the eyes. "Even if I did read them, it wouldn't make me think less of any of you. You were a part of something that kept secrets from what I've heard and you were only following orders. I get that. None of you are bad people, no matter what anyone thinks."

Steve smiled. "Thank you, Tracey."

"So how's Bucky? Was he okay with Tony fixing his arm?"

"He was a little hesitant, but I was able to cope him into letting Tony fix it. He was tense at first, but he seemed to relax a little after a while."

"That's good." Tracey turned to the three men on the couch hearing their yells and cheers. She shook her head. "Three grown men playing Mario. I know Barry and Tony would play, but I didn't know about Sam."

"If I recall you were playing against Tony last time I saw you," Steve said with a grin.

"Oh shush," she laughed, pushing his arm. She smiled when she saw Bucky walk over and take a seat next to Steve.

At that moment, Tony had jumped up from his seat, pumping his fists in the air, steering wheel in hand. Barry groaned, shaking his head in his hand mumbling "Stupid last minute mushroom" while Sam cackled in his seat at the two.

Tony turned around to the three at the table, clapping his hands with a smile on his face.

"Alright, so how about we get you guys in your rooms?"

"I'm gamed," Barry said, standing up and following Tony lead the way to the elevator.

"Come on," Tracey said, grinning at Steve and Bucky as she stood up to follow.

"I have a floor for Barry, Tracey, Sam, you get one," Tony said, smirking when Sam grinned at him. "And I have a floor for the happy couple to share."

Steve rolled his eyes as he got on the elevator with Bucky close behind. "At least there's a floor for me and Bucky to share. I'm not sure you're in the happy couple category as of right now," he said, referring back to Pepper finding out about the suits.

Tony's face fell. "Shut it, Gramps," he said, glaring at the captain as he pressed a button.

Steve smirked before clapping Tony on the shoulder. "I appreciate you giving Bucky and I a floor to share. I'm pretty sure he doesn't want to be on his own for a while."

"Yeah yeah, don't get sentimental with me Cap," Tony said, waving his hand in the air. The elevator opened up to a similar spacious floor as to the top floor. "First stop, Mona Lisa's."

Tracey stepped off the elevator, looking around the area, her face broken out into a large smile. "This is amazing!" she awed. She turned to Tony, a grin on her face and eyes squinting slightly in joy. She jumped at the billionaire, trapping him in a hug. "Thank you so much, Tony!"

Tony patted her back, chuckling. "No problem, Picassa. I'm just glad I made the decision to keep your things in storage since you don't want to stay here permanently," he said, a look of mock hurt on his face.

She rolled her eyes, smiling. "Sorry, but I do plan on having Dave over at some point and I know how you don't like him so I figured getting my own place would put you at ease."

"Who said I didn't like him?" he asked as the rest of the group took to looking at the floor as well.

"Tony, it's obvious you don't like him," Tracey began. "You even tol-"

She was interrupted by squeaky barks coming the single hall at the end of the floor. Next thing everyone knew a ball of golden fur came skidding to a halt at Tracey's feet.

"Dexter!" she said, kneeling down to the point where the puppy jumped, putting his front paws on her knees. "Did you miss me?" she cooed.

"You have a dog?" Barry exclaimed as he knelt down. He laughed when Dexter sprinted over to him, yipping and jumping at him as the brunette petted him.

"I rescued him just after you visited me last. He was part of a litter that was too big for the mom to take care of," she explained, watching as Dexter ran to Sam next. "I just couldn't resist not taking him in."

"Yeah, and you left me with taking care of him while you were in DC. I had to deal with him running around and barking at anything and everything," Tony said, trying to show a look of annoyance, only to fail when the golden retriever began to lick his shoes.

"Oh please you like him," Tracey said, catching his smile.

Steve was the next person to pet the dog, laughing when the puppy furiously licked his hand. Dexter then spotted Bucky standing off to the side and ran over to him. Steve walked over, leaning down to pick the puppy up only to have him run away from him and jump at Bucky's legs. Bucky tensed for a second, looking down at the puppy. Dexter's tail wagged and his tongue lolled out of his mouth as he stared up at the man. He continued to stare at the puppy for a few more seconds before slowly bending down and scratching the puppy's ears. Dexter barked happily, licking Bucky's hand before running around the room some more.

Steve smiled at Bucky once the brown haired man met his friend's gaze. He returned it with a small smile.

Tracey groaned when she saw him chewing on Sam's shoelace. "Dexter, no!"

Sam laughed and held up his hand to stop the woman from further walking over to him and the dog. "It's cool, Tracey," he said as he began to drag his foot around, bringing the dog with it.

Dexter clung onto the shoelace, growling lightly as he laid on his belly, sliding around on the wooden floor.

"Alright, alright, enough with the dog," Tony said. "Let's let Tracey settle in and I take you guys to your floors."

"You're just jealous that no one is focusing on you anymore," Steve said with a laugh.

"Geez, even Captain Fuddy Duddy has some witty comeback," Tony said with a smirk as he walked over to the elevator. "Oh and Tracey," he began, bringing the blonde's attention back to him. "I have a little work area over in your room set up. Got all the gadgets you'll need." He grinned when he saw the smile spread across her face.

"Thanks, Tony." Tracey waved goodbye to the men, picking up Dexter and waving his paw at Sam, who gave the pup one last scratch behind the ear. "I'll keep working on those files," she said to Tony, who gave a quick salute. Tracey laughed seeing Steve's eye roll before the elevators closed.

She placed Dexter back on the ground and watched as he ran around again. She saw him run over to the living room where a few of his toys were spread out near his food and water bowl. She made a note to thank Pepper and Tony for setting some of her things out tomorrow.

She placed her hands on her hips looking around the floor. "Well, Dexter, looks like we both get to play with our own toys," she said as she made her way to the bedroom.

**So this chapter was a bit longer which I'm happy about. I got to show a bit more of Barry's personality in here and Tony and Bruce were brought in. I also brought Dexter back, which I am excited to write more Bucky and Dexter interactions in the future! I'd like to apologize if any of you wanted to read the part where Tony fixes Bucky's arm, but I didn't want to write that part, plus I didn't know what to write.**

**I'm sorry this chapter took a while to post again. Life's busy. I'm still looking for a job, but one possible one might happen. From what my friend, who works there, said there's a good chance I'll get the job! So fingers crossed!**

**Last thing, I created a tumblr blog for this story. I want to try and do a Q&A blog for the characters just for the fun of it and to help learn how to write for each character further. So if any of you want to message me the blog is _winter-is-ending_. Like I said, it's just something to do for fun :) **

**Thank you for reading! I'd really appreciate reviews and hear what you guys think. If you have any critiques I'd love to hear them. They help me figure out what I need to work on. Thank you again and have a great day!**


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five

Tracey yawned as she stared at the glowing screen in front of her. She was currently sitting at the counter in the communal kitchen on the top floor. She had been staying up late the past two days since she and Steve brought Bucky to the tower working on recovering the SHIELD files from the internet. Dark circles were starting to form under her eyes and she was wearing a pair of baggy sweat pants and a oversized T-shirt. Her pajamas. Next to her computer was a bowl of Apple Jacks and a glass of orange juice. She wore her glasses, which was a very rare thing. She only wore them when she was too tired to put her contacts in. Which was this morning.

She yawned once more, typing away at her laptop. "You're almost done, Tracey," she said, motivating herself to get the job done and finally take a needed break.

Her head hit the computer; she groaned into it. "Why do I do this to myself?"

She heard the elevator doors open, but didn't even bother looking up. No offense to whoever just arrived, but she didn't care who was walking in. She needed sleep, or just a nice break. Whatever she could get. She still didn't even look up when she heard two chairs pull out next to her.

She heard a chuckle next to her and groaned once more. "Stop laughing," she mumbled into the plastic of her laptop.

"Is Tony driving you insane?" came Steve's voice.

"No, I haven't gotten any sleep because I've been working on getting these files," she answered, her face still against the keyboard.

Steve raised an eyebrow. "Why haven't you gotten any sleep? You know you can take a break from getting the files."

"Because I am an idiot," Tracey said, lifting her head up to look at him. "Whenever I have something to work on, whether it's a bunch of paintings to sell or as of now hacking, I tend to get little sleep because I want to get it done as soon as I can. I'm a workaholic."

Steve chuckled. "Why don't you take a break?" he asked, getting up as he went to grab two bowls.

Tracey noticed Bucky was the one who had sat in the other chair she had heard being pulled out. She smiled at him, waving quickly before turning back to Steve. "I don't want to. Lord knows what sort of crazy people are out in this world looking at these files with all the information and blueprints for weapons and such and try to recreate that?" she said, making Steve laugh at the over dramatic scenario. Although he had to admit with everything going on in the world, who knew who was out there trying to do exactly what Tracey was talking about. "I need to get all these files off the internet as soon as I can."

Steve placed the bowl in front of him and Bucky, grabbing the box of Apple Jacks and milk from in front of Tracey. "Look," he said, pouring the cereal before handing the box to Bucky. "You need a break. I'm planning on taking Bucky out to see New York and show him some old places we used to go to. Why don't you come with us? We've all been cooped up in the tower and could use some fresh air."

It was true. Since the day everyone came to live in the tower no one had left. Well except for Sam and Barry. The two had gone around seeing the sights, Barry showing Sam the best restaurants and attractions. Pepper had been working on paperwork for Stark Industries and Tony and Bruce had been down in the labs working on whatever they always worked on down there. Tracey of course had been working on retrieving the files and that left Steve and Bucky. The two friends had spent the past two days talking. Steve felt that just keeping Bucky in the tower to rest up was a better way to start with gaining his memories back and for his health. Steve had recounted memories with Bucky, reminding him of old times from the forties. Lucky enough the brunet had remembered a good bit of what Steve had described, while there were some that he still didn't remember, but listened none the less.

Tracey had sat down once with her computer just listening to the stories of what life in the forties was like while she worked. It was interesting to hear what things were like back then compared to now and it was sweet to see Steve smile brightly when Bucky would contribute to some of the stories, recounting the memories together.

The blonde ran a hand through her already messy hair, leaning back in her seat. She closed her eyes, opening them up to see Steve looking at her expectantly. She glanced over at Bucky only to see him just eating his cereal. She guessed he was listening in on the conversation, but not saying anything. He still didn't talk much to anyone else but Steve. He had at least relaxed a bit more around everyone. Just a bit.

She glanced at Steve to see the same expectant look still there, but with a smile. She groaned, throwing her hands in the air.

"Fine! I'll take a break and go with you," she said, starting to eat her cereal before it got too soggy. "Just stop giving me the dang Captain America puppy dog eyes."

Steve raise an eyebrow at her. "Captain America puppy dog eyes?"

"The 'I expect better from you. God bless America and have a slice of apple pie darn it!' look," she said, giving him a mock salute.

Bucky snorted into his cereal, making the two look at him. Steve just gave an annoyed look to the blonde as she smirked at him.

Steve pinched the bridge of his nose before finally chuckling. "I don't know who's worse with the jokes. You, Tony, or Natasha."

"You're glad I'm your friend. Now be quiet and eat your cereal," she said, going back to her own bowl.

ooOOoo

"So where are you thinking of going?" Tracey asked as she, Steve, and Bucky walked out of the Avengers' Tower lobby.

The three had separated after breakfast and met up in the lobby. Steve had wanted to change so that he and Bucky wouldn't be noticed and when Tracey got down to the lobby she couldn't help but giggle at the get up Steve was wearing. He was wearing a baseball cap, glasses, and hoodie and in her opinion the glasses didn't completely help. But hey who knows. Bucky was dressed in the same outfit he wore when he showed up at Steve's apartment, only this time cleaned thanks to Pepper.

Steve looked up, shielding his eyes from the sun with his hand. "Well," he began, "I was thinking of taking him to some old places we used to go to. Hopefully that will bring back some memories. He's doing well so far." He turned to Bucky, patting him on the back and got a small smile in return. "Also, I plan on going to see our old neighborhood."

"That'd be a great place to go," Tracey said. Her face lit up soon after, an idea springing to mind. "I know a great place to check out. It's this amazing pizza place with the 'best pizza around'," she said, air quoting "best pizza around". "Maybe a slice of New York pizza will jog some memories."

Steve grinned. "That's a good idea. Plus, I think we could use some lunch," he chuckled hearing Tracey's stomach growl.

"Hey. One bowl of cereal isn't exactly filling," she defended making him laugh even more.

"It is not my fault you chose working over eating," he shot back with a smile. "Where is this pizza place?"

"It's on forty fifth and Madison," Tracey said, taking a moment to think of the exact location.

Bucky watched the two interact. Ever since the memory of Linda, whenever he ran into Tracey he would sometimes have flashes of more memories with the blonde woman from the forties. The recent one he remembered was of him and Steve – the scrawny Steve he's been seeing in a lot of memories lately – talking. He had seen Steve sitting in a chair while he, himself, was pacing around.

"_What am I doing wrong?" Bucky exclaimed, throwing his hands in the air exasperatedly. "I'd like to take her out, get to know her, but she keeps rejecting me."_

_Steve placed his sketch book down. While his friend was pacing around, not saying anything until now, he had taken the chance of using a pacing Bucky as a reference for a silly drawing he'd show him later, once he had cooled down. "Maybe she's shy," he said, putting away the pencils. "You know how she is. She's a sweet gal, but she's very timid."_

"_I know that, Steve," Bucky said, rolling his eyes. "But that doesn't solve the problem. What do I do to get her to agree to go out with me?"_

"_Don't worry too much about it, Buck," Steve said, getting up and placing a hand on the frustrated brunet. "I'm sure she'll agree sooner or later. After all, she does like you."_

_Bucky whipped his head up from staring at the ground to face his friend. "Wait she does?"_

It was gone just as fast as it came. It was short, but it pegged the question of what happened to Linda and him? He still didn't remember much. Sure, the memories with Linda weren't as important as others he remembered, like his family, but as Steve had said to him "Every memory is just as important as the next."

Bucky had smiled when his friend said that. He was doubtful that all his memories would come back, but Steve believed they would and he knew he would have his back. He doesn't remember everything, but he remembers enough to know that Steve would always be there for him. Bucky wanted to do everything he could to return the favor. He just didn't know how yet.

"What do you think, Buck?" Steve asked, breaking Bucky's train of thought.

Bucky looked up and blinked. "Huh?"

"How does pizza sound to you?" Steve said, a smile on his face.

"Pizza? Uh yeah…sounds uh good."

"Awesome," Tracey said, smiling at the two. "Follow me."

"Tracey, I'm pretty sure I remember where forty fifth and Madison is," Steve said, chuckling as he and Bucky walked beside the blonde.

"Yeah, but you've also been frozen for seventy years, I highly doubt you know what pizza place I'm talking about."

Steve laughed. "That's true."

"You guys will love it," she said with a smile.

ooOOoo

The three were seated at an outside table at the pizza place. Little Italy was the name of it. At the moment they were sipping on their drinks as they waited for the pizza they ordered not too long ago. Bucky was quiet as usual, watching Steve and Tracey talk and the people around them.

Steve patted his shoulder having noticed Bucky observing their surroundings. He knew his friend wanted to break the habit. He had said so. Over the past two days the two had been hanging around Avengers tower feeling that going out in public would make Bucky uncomfortable. They had spent the days talking. Mostly Steve, but Bucky would listen intently to whatever he said. The sandy blonde haired man had recounted numerous memories of them growing up. Bucky had thrown in his own comments and points of view every now and then. Both were happy to know that he was slowly gaining his memory bit by bit. Bucky was relieved to know that none of the images he was seeing were fake when Steve would assure him by telling the full story of the memory, which would further help Bucky remember the moment.

During their conversations, Bucky had hesitantly told Steve about his time at HYDRA. He knew that it was time to tell his friend and explain to him how he had lost his memories. The anger Steve was feeling was evident on his face and at that point he had promised Bucky that he would do anything and everything to help him get all his memories back.

"You helped me out of so many tight spots growing up," he had said, looking at Bucky with a determined face. "It's my turn to help you."

Bucky looked back at the two after staring off into space and staring at the many people walking by yet again. He caught a glimpse of something and noticed faint bruising on Tracey's neck. He cringed remembering that it was his fault that she had them. It was his fault he hurt her. He stared down at his lap before looking back up.

"Tracey…" he said hesitantly. He flinched when both she and Steve looked at him.

"Yes, Bucky," she said, a smile on her face, encouraging him to continue.

"I'm…I'm sorry," he rushed in nearly a whisper.

She blinked and raised an eyebrow. "For what? You did nothing wrong."

Bucky took a deep breath. "For…for hurting you…"

Tracey tilted her head slightly, her eyes scrunched up a tad in confusion. She saw where Bucky's eyes were looking and it clicked. She touched her neck. She had forgotten that she had a few bruises from when he had choked her. She laughed.

Bucky looked at Steve in concern and saw that Steve was smiling at him. He didn't understand why Tracey was laughing and Steve was smiling. He had hurt her the first night he found Steve.

"Sorry," Tracey said, a bright smile on her face that made her eyes crinkle. "I wasn't laughing at you, I was just laughing at myself. I completely forgot about my neck. Anyways, it's okay. You didn't mean to hurt me. Plus I forgave you the minute it happened." She smiled at him, letting him know that what she said was the truth. She knew the moment he had woken up in Steve's apartment that morning and had grabbed her neck that he didn't mean to. He was still on edge after everything that had happened to him. Of course it wasn't his fault, but HYDRA's.

Bucky smiled lightly in return. It wasn't a big one, but he smiled either way. He was honestly surprised that Tracey had forgiven him, but glad that she had. He felt a slight weight lift from his shoulders knowing that he was forgiven.

However, he felt another weight right after the one that just left. He looked up as Steve patted his shoulder. His friend was smiling at him and he smiled back.

"I've told you a hundred times, Buck, everything will be okay."

"I heard you, punk…" he said, the smallest of smirks on his face as he stared at the table.

Steve couldn't help, but grin from ear to ear. He hadn't heard Bucky call him that since nineteen forty four. It felt great knowing that his best friend was slowly coming back. He shook his head, wrapping an arm around his shoulders, giving him a one armed hug. "Jerk."

Tracey grinned as she watched the two super soldiers. Her face lit up even more when she saw the waiter stop at their table with the pizza. "I know I said this earlier, but you guys will _love _this," she said, taking a slice and putting it on her plate.

"I don't think I've ever heard of Hawaiin pizza before," Steve commented on the half of the pizza that Tracey had picked out as he grabbed a slice of pepperoni from the other half.

"It's _so _good," Tracey said, taking a bit. "Probably didn't hear about it because it was invented long after your time," she joked after swallowing.

Steve rolled his eyes, taking a bite from his. Bucky grabbed a slice next, folding it in half before taking a bite. Steve watched laughing.

"Looks like you still eat pizza the same way you did back in the forties, Buck."

Tracey looked over and giggled when Bucky shrugged, still chewing his bite. "Like a true New Yorker."

"I guess it comes naturally," Bucky replied, another small smile gracing his features.

It was true. While he watched Tracey and Steve grab their slices, images of him and Steve at a pizza parlor popped in his head. Even when he grabbed his own slice he automatically folded it as if it was a regular thing. It probably was for him back in the forties and feeling that it was gave Bucky comfort and relief that he was slowly becoming James Buchanan Barnes again.

The three continued to eat, Steve and Tracey holding the conversation throughout the meal, with the very rare comment from Bucky to Steve. The other two understood, he was still unsure of himself and felt more comfortable with Steve out of everyone so far. They grabbed a to-go box for the leftovers before heading away from the restaurant.

"You were right, Tracey," Steve said as they made it to a crosswalk, waiting for the walk signal. "That was pretty good pizza."

"Told you," she said with a smirk. "Now what's next on the agenda?"

"I was thinking we could head to our old neighborhood now, if that's alright with you?"

"Sounds good, but I feel that is something the two of you should do. I've got a few errands to run anyways so I'll meet you two later," she said. "Oh almost forgot." She shoved the pizza box in his hands.

"Why am I taking it?"

"Because I'm planning on looking at apartments and I'd rather not hold a box of pizza while talking to the landlords."

"You could always bribe them into letting you get the apartment with pizza," he said with a grin.

Tracey laughed. "That's not a bad idea, but I'd rather not take my chances. I'll see you guys," she said, waving as she walked away.

Steve shook his head, turning to Bucky.

ooOOoo

"It feels like nothing has changed, huh?" Steve asked, his hands on his hips as he and Bucky stood outside an apartment. He sighed. "And yet it has at the same time."

He and Bucky had taken the subway to Brooklyn and made their way to their old neighborhood. Now, here they were standing outside a brick apartment complex staring up at it. Steve had a small smile on his face as he looked around them, remembering the years they had spent living there. Bucky on the other hand stared with curious eyes as he looked around as well. His eyes landed on a set of metal steps and trailed up to a wooden door. He slowly made his way to the door, placing his hand on it once he reached it.

"This was your apartment…right?" he asked slowly staring at the door in a sort of state of wonder.

"Yeah," Steve said, coming up behind him.

_I'm with you 'til the end of the line, pal. _

He heard himself say the familiar phrase. A past self. He saw him and Steve standing in front of this door, both of them had solemn faces. He remembered it was the day Steve's mother had died. He made the promise to always be there for him, just as Steve was there for him now.

He turned to Steve who was staring at the door as well with a smile on his face. He turned to him, his smile getting bigger.

"You know your old apartment is down that way," he said, pointing to the right down the street. "Do you want to go see it?"

"Yeah…I'd like that," Bucky said, a smile on his face as he followed his friend's hand.

The duo came up to a similar looking brick apartment, this one however, was one story taller than the last.

Bucky smiled as he stared up at it. Images of him coming and going with Steve flashed through his mind. One image was of him, in a different area, with his little sister Rebecca. It was of him walking her down a street to a school. He looked down the road and sure enough there was a school not too far down.

"Is that the school we went to?"

Steve looked where Bucky was staring and laughed.

"Yeah, that's where you saved my ass a good bit," he said, shaking his head. They got into a few fights on the playground.

They leaned against the chain linked fence once they reached the school yard. Their eyes roamed around the playground, taking in the nostalgia.

Bucky's landed on a far off corner of the yard. He narrowed his eyes as he felt a memory pushing its way to the top trying to focus more on the corner. He slowly zoned out as the memory surfaced.

_There in the corner of the playground were three children. Two surrounded a small blonde haired boy. The blonde boy was backed up into the corner, glaring up at the two slightly taller boys. _

"_Why are you defending a girl?" one boy with dark hair said, sneering down at the scrawny kid. _

"_Because it's the right thing to do!" scrawny kid defended. "You shouldn't bully everyone on the playground Marcus."_

_Marcus glared at him. "Jimmy, think we should play some dodge ball?" he asked, turning to the boy next to him, who was in fact holding a dodge ball much to the smaller boy's luck._

"_Yeah! Wanna play, Steve?" Jimmy grinned, raising his arm high, ready to throw the ball at the poor kid's face._

"_Hey!" a new voice cried out. _

_The three kids turned to see a boy just about Jimmy and Marcus's height approach them. _

"_What do you want, James?" Marcus said._

"_Leave him alone!" the little boy, James shouted._

"_Make us!" Jimmy taunted._

_James pouted as he glared before charging at Jimmy and head butting him in the gut knocking him on his bottom. He turned to Marcus and was ready to attack him only the bully ran off, followed by Jimmy, before he could do anything. James smirked, satisfied with his victory. He turned to the skinny boy._

"_Are you okay?" he asked. _

"_I had them on the ropes," Steve pouted._

_James grinned and laughed. "You're tough, but you're too small to take on Marcus and Jimmy. I'm James by the way," he said extending his hand. "But you can call me Bucky. My middle name is Buchanan, but I like Bucky better. It sounds cooler, don'tcha think?"_

_Steve shook his hand, smiling up at the dark haired boy. "Yeah! I'm Steve!"_

"_Want to play tag, Steve?" Bucky grinned a toothy grin that had one missing tooth._

_Steve looked down at his shoes. "I can't run around much, I have ash…as….asthma," he fumbled. "I want to play though…"_

_James laughed. "That's alright! How about we play catch? I can run and get the ball if it gets away!"_

_Steve's face lit up. "You'd play catch with me?"_

"_Why not? You seem nice and fun to be around!" Bucky said. "Its better than constantly getting into fights every day. Why do you always end up fighting Marcus and Jimmy? I always see you come back from recess with a bruise or something."_

"_They keep bullying Mary Glaston," Steve said with a glare. "It's not right."_

"_I'll say," Bucky said, a matching glare on his face. He quickly went back to his bright grin. "Come on! Let's play before recess ends!"_

"_Okay!" Steve said as he and Bucky walked over to the large toy bin by the schools doors._

Bucky blinked as he registered where he was. He was still leaning against the fence with Steve. He looked over at his friend and saw that he had a smile on his face. He raised an eyebrow making Steve chuckle.

"You had the same zoned out look on your face you get whenever you remember something. What was it this time?"

Bucky couldn't help, but let out a smile that was bigger than usual. "I remembered the day we first met."

"Really?" Steve said, a grin on his face. He shook his head. "That was probably one of the best days of elementary school for me."

"Why?" Bucky said, a smirk on his face. "Because you gained a body guard?"

Steve barked out a laugh. "I'm glad to know that there's still some humor in you, Buck. Come on, jerk. There's a bit more of the neighborhood we should see before we get back to Tracey."

"Punk," Bucky said as he and Steve walked down the road again.

ooOOoo

"So how was it?" Tracey asked as she ran up to the two once they finally found each other after texting and searching the busy street.

"It went well," Steve said. "I think Bucky wasn't the only one remembering things there," he chuckled.

Tracey grinned. "That's good. A bit of nostalgia is always great." She turned to Bucky. "Did you remember anything else?"

Bucky hesitated before nodding his head. "Yeah…I remembered a few a good bit…"

Tracey beamed. "That's great!"

She caught a glimpse of Steve's proud smile as he watched Bucky interact with her. Bucky was coming a long way after just a few days of being back with Steve. Of course there was still many many many more memories to get, but that kind of thing takes time. So does being able to talk with someone. She could tell that Steve was happy that Bucky was gaining so many memories back already, but also proud that the brunette was warming up to at least one other person besides him. It was a long road to recovery, but it will be worth it for Bucky.

"So," Steve began. "How was apartment hunting?" he asked, handing her the nearly forgotten pizza box.

Tracey rolled her eyes as she took the box. "It went great! I now have an apartment so I'll be able to keep a bit of sanity while having to work with superheroes."

"I'm sorry, who agreed to work with Tony to get those files back?" Steve retorted with a laugh.

"Oh shush," she grinned. "Anyways, I'll be moving out in about two days or so. I'll just need to pack up the few things Tony left for me at the tower and get the rest out of storage."

"Will you need any help?" he asked.

"Thanks, but I think I'll call Dave and ask. He's been blowing my phone up with texts and calls. I may have missed a few calls while trying to get the files back," she said giving a sheepish shrug. "I have answered of course. I leave for one day to go to DC and he think's I've gone missing or something." She sighed. "Anyways, lets head back to the tower. I want to make sure Barry and Tony haven't blown anything up yet."

Steve laughed. "That'd be a good idea. You know you'll be missed at the tower, Trace."

"It's not like I'm leaving forever, Steve," she said as the three made their way through the bustling crowd of New York to the Avenger's Tower. "Plus, someone is going to need to help Pepper keep you guys in line," she said with a wink.

Steve shook his head laughing. That was the understatement of the year.

**Okay, so the other day I was in a huge fit of laughter, I was in tears. My friend, mokonahapuuuuuu, and I were talking about the meaning behind names. We started talking about our names and then she brought up Tracey and said that Tracey is the variant for Theresa which means "summer". I was staring at my computer screen speechless for a good three minutes before I started laughing. I didn't even know that! I honestly just liked the name Tracey and went with it! So apparently I have paired up winter and summer together!**

**Also thank you for those who wished me luck with getting a job. I successfully got one! Which also explains why this chapter is a bit late. I am really sorry about that. I have been busy and also have had a slight writer's block. Not a major one at least because this chapter turned out just how I wanted it to. So thank you again to those of you who wished me luck :D**

**One more thing. I am on tumblr and have seen a lot of rp blogs and thought it would be fun to try and make one. I honestly just made it for kicks and giggles with Tracey, Barry, and the Avengers. It's basically a Marvel and rp blog for the story. I have always wanted to try and make an rp blog and I love to rp. Its fun and it helps you figure out small details about characters you create and headcanons haha. So if any of you want to ask questions for Tracey, Barry, and the guys feel free to drop on by and leave a question! You can find the blog under: **

**winter-is-ending**

**Anyways, I hope you liked the chapter. If you can leave a review, I'd love to hear what you guys think so far. Any helpful critiques are welcome! I'd love to improve and see what you guys think and have to say. Thank you and have a great day! **


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